The US government has asked a judge to order Google to sell its Chrome internet browser. The move represents a historic landmark in the effort to prevent the monopoly of one of the largest technology companies in the world. This was reported by the AFP agency quoted by TASR on Thursday.
Google’s parent company, Alphabet GOOGL.O, must divest its Chrome browser, share data and search results with competitors and take other steps to end its online search monopoly, a document released by the U.S. Department of Justice says.
According to Reuters, such changes would subject Google to strict regulation for a decade under the supervision of a federal court in Washington, which recently ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on online search and related advertising.
Google controls about 90 percent of the online search market, Reuters added.
The Justice Department says in a court filing that Google’s “wrongful conduct has deprived its competitors not only of essential distribution channels, but also of distribution partners that might otherwise allow them to enter these markets in new and innovative ways.”
In a court document, the ministry calls for the division of the group’s activities and at the same time prohibits Google from signing agreements with manufacturers that would “force” them to use the Chrome search engine on their smartphones.
Authorities also want to prevent Google from using its Android mobile operating system to promote its other products. They even demand that the tech giant abandon Android if it doesn’t come up with innovations in that direction.
The request to break up Google represents a major shift by US competition authorities, who have largely left the tech giants alone since failing to break up Microsoft 20 years ago.
But last summer, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., Amit Mehta, found Google guilty of illegal practices designed to create and maintain a monopoly in online search.
The judge could now decide on the sentence in August 2025 – after receiving a formal request from the authorities in November and hearing both sides in a special hearing in April.
Google will be able to present its proposals and arguments in December, Reuters reported.
According to the StatCounter website, in September Google accounted for 90 percent of the global online search market and even 94 percent in smartphones.
